The Anarchist in the Library How the Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System

by Vaidhyanathan, Siva

• ISBN13: 9780465089857
• ISBN10: 0465089852
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-11
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

The Anarchist in the Libraryis the first guide to one of the most important cultural and economic battlegrounds of our increasingly plugged-in world. Siva Vaidhyanathan draws the struggle for information that will determine much of the culture and politics of the twenty-first century: anarchy or oligarchy, total freedom vs. complete control. His acclaimed book explores topics from unauthorized fan edits ofStar Warsto terrorist organizations' reliance on "leaderless resistance," from Napster to Total Information Awareness to flash mobs.

Author Biography

Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian and media scholar, is Director of Communication Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. His research has been profiled on National Public Radio, CNN, International Herald-Tribune Television, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
1 Public Noises	1	(14)
2 The Ideology of Peer-to-Peer	15	(10)
3 Hacking the Currency	25	(16)
4 The Peer-to-Peer Revolution and the Future of Music	41	(24)
5 A Work in Progress or the Final Edit?	65	(16)
6 Imagineering	81	(16)
7 Culture as Anarchy	97	(18)
8 The Perfect Library	115	(16)
9 The Anarchy and Oligarchy of Science and Math	131	(20)
10 The Nation-State Versus Networks	151	(16)
11 The Empire Strikes Back	167	(18)
12 Conclusion	185	(8)
The Heartbreak of Oligarchy and Anarchy
Acknowledgments	193	(4)
Notes	197	(24)
Bibliography	221	(24)
Index	245